Turnable directioning apparatus in automatic carrying system

ABSTRACT

A turnable directioning apparatus for use in an automatic carrying system including an electromotive carrying apparatus adapted to run on rails, said apparatus comprising a turnable member having one section of rail mounted thereon and located at a location at which the end portions of said rails converge and further comprising a direction finder for detecting the direction in which the electromotive carrying apparatus is approaching the turnable directioning apparatus, said turnable member being responsive to the direction finder so that the rail of the turnable member is automatically turned to a direction in line with the rail along which the carrying apparatus is approaching the turnable directioning apparatus.

United States Patent Matsumoto et al.

[ 1 July 24, 1973 TURNABLE DIRECTIONING APPARATUS IN AUTOMATIC CARRYINGSYSTEM Inventors: Mikio Matsumoto, Ashiya; Kenji Terada, Suita; MitsuruMatsunaga, Neyagawa, all of Japan Assignee: The Tsubakimoto Chain Mfg.Co.,

Ltd., Joto-ku, Osaka, Japan Filed: Nov. 23, 1971 Appl. No.: 201,442

Related U.S. Application Data Division of Ser. No. 769,320, Oct. 21,1968, Pat. No. 3,646,613.

Foreign Application Priority Data Oct. 31, 1967 Japan 42/69578 Oct. 31,1967 Japan 42/17298 U.S. Cl. 104/38, 104/88 Int. Cl B0lj 1/00 Field ofSearch 104/35, 36, 38, 96,

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 10/1954 Lontz 2l4/l6.l A

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REVERSE ROTATION Ill 3,502,038 3/1970 Wesener 104/88 PrimaryExaminer-Gerald M. Forlenza Assistant Examiner-George H. LibmanAttorneyE. F. Wenderoth et a1.

[57] ABSTRACT finder so that the rail of the turnable member isautomatically turned to a direction in line with the rail along whichthe carrying apparatus is approaching the turnable directioningapparatus.

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mvsnrmm ATTORNEYS TURNABLE DIRECTIONING APPARATUS IN AUTOMATIC CARRYINGSYSTEM RELATED APPLICATION This application is a division of Ser. No.769,320, filed Oct. 21, 1968, now U.S. Pat. No. 3,646,613.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION This invention relates generally to adirectioning apparatus used for changing the advancing direction of anelectromotive carrying apparatus running on a rail provided with a powersupply line contained therein.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART In order to fully automatize a carryingsystem, it has been proposed to include rails provided with power supplylines therealong, such rails being equipped thereon with electromotivecarrying apparatuses used for carrying loads, each having a collectorslidingly in contact with such power supply lines, a motor, acontroller, etc. therein, thereby allowing such electromotive carryingapparatuses to run on the rails by sending driving power and controlsignals from the power sup ply lines. In realizing such carrying system,it is desired that the direction in which an electromotive carryingapparatus is running can be changed as variously as possible so thatloads can be adapted to various possible processes to undergo duringtransportation thereof.

There has been an increasing demand for a turnable directioningapparatus which may change automatically and smoothly the direction inwhich an electromotive carrying apparatus is running between a number ofrails at a portion where such rails converge.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In accordance with the invention, there isprovided a turnable directioning apparatus for use in an automaticcarrying system including an electromotive carrying apparatus adapted torun on rails, said apparatus comprising a segment of rail mounted on aturnable member and positioned at a location at which the end portionsof said rails converge, a direction finder for detecting the directionin which the carrying apparatus is approaching the turnable directioningapparatus, and means for determining the direction of rotation in whichthe turnable member must be turned in order to permit the member to takethe shortest course to the position to bedirected, said turnablememberbeing turned under the control of said direction finder and saiddirection determining means so that the rail segment of the turnablemember is automatically turned to a direction in line with the railalong which the carrying apparatus is approaching the turnabledirectioning apparatus.

The turnable directioning apparatus according to this invention will beeffectively used to automatically convert the direction in which anelectromotive carrying apparatus is running to an arbitrary one at aportion where a plurality of rails converge.

In an automatic carrying system to which this invention may be applied,a rail has a power supply line contained therein and is divided intoseveral sections each provided with a power supply line, further sucheach section being provided with a section control circuit controllingthe cut-off of power to its associated power supply line as desired.

The invention will be better understood by reference to the followingdescription made in conjunction with i the accompanying drawings inwhich:

FIGS. 1A to 1C are a plan view, a side view and a bot tom plan viewrespectively, schematically illustrating the construction of a turnabledirectioning apparatus according to this invention;

FIG. 2A (1 and 2) is a block diagram of the control circuit of theturnable directioning apparatus;

FIG. 2B (1 and 2) shows one embodiment of the control circuit of theturnable directioning apparatus;

FIGS. 2C to 2G show data used in the direction finder of the turnabledirectioning apparatus and an embodiment of the direction finder;

FIG. 3A (1-3) is a block diagram of the electric circuit of a sectioncontrol circuit controlling power supply to each section of rails;

FIG. 3B shows signal waveforms appearing at various points as seen inFIG. 3A.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The turnable directioningapparatus according to this invention is used at a portion where aplurality of rails converge, and in its construction, as shown FIGS. 1Ato 3C, a section of rail 51 on which the electromotive carryingapparatus runs is provided integrally underneath a circular turnabletable 502 supported close to the outer edge thereof by more than atleast two pairs of rollers 503 provided diametrially oppositelyunderneath the circular turnable table 502, thus allowing it to turnfreely. A plurality of chain wheels 504 are provided externally incontact with the circular turnable table 502, one of which is driven bya drive motor 506 through a belt 507, thereby allowing the circularturnable table 502 to turn. Connecting fixed rails 508 are fitted to aframe 509 in various directions corresponding to the rail 51 mounted onthe circular turnable table.

The rail 51 mounted on the circular turnable table 502, that is, arotary rail, is provided at opposite ends thereof with stoppers toprevent the electromotive carrying apparatus entering into position onthe rail from running out thereof during turning of the rotary rail.These stoppers are controlled for their in-and-out operation by aturnable directioning control circuit as described hereinafter. l

Each of a plurality of rails converging toward the turnable directioningapparatus is preferably divided into sections each having a power supplyline sectionably energized, or at least is designed to constitute onesection, such each section being provided with a section control circuitcontrolling thecut-off of power to the power supply line thereof asdesired.

Therefore, referring now to FIGS. 3A and 3B, the construction andenergization of such section control circuit will be described prior tothe explanation of the turnable directioning circuit.

In FIG. 3A, although one section control circuit comprises a portiondesignated as the section (i), for exam,- ple, for convenience ofexplanation, the construction and operation of the section controlcircuit will be described in a state that the section (i-I-I) and thesection (il) each having a section control circuit of the sameconstruction as that of the section (i are connected immediately beforeand after it.

A terminal 320 of the section control circuit of the section (i) isconnected to a terminal 306 of the section control circuit of thesection (i-l) to which in turn a relay R12 of the section controlcircuit of the section (i-l is connected. The connection between thesection control circuits of the section (i) and the section (i+l) is thesame as that between the section (i-l) and the section (i).

A moveable contact r11 of a relay R11 is closed at its left side as seenin FIG. 3A. When the electromotive carrying apparatus enters into thesection (i), a detector 322 of the section (1') detects the entrance ofthe electromotive carrying apparatus into the section (1'), and sends adetected signal to a relay R10. The relay R10 is energized to close itsmoveable contact r10-l and the upper side of the relay R11 is grounded,whereby its moveable contact rll is closed to its right side in FIG. 3A.The terminal 320 of the section control circuit of the section (i) is,until the relay R10 is energizecl, grounded through the lower sidecontact of its moveable contact r10-3 and the left side contact of themoveable contact r11 of the relay R11. Thus, since the relay R12 of thesection (i-l) is energized with its one end grounded, its moveablecontact r12 is closed at the side (upper side) opposite to that shown inFIG. 3A with respect to the corresponding moveable contact r12 of thesection (i), the driving power being fed to the power supply line 2 frompower supply terminals 303 and 304. When the relay R10 is energized asdescribed above, its moveable contact rl-3 is closed at the side (upperside) opposite to that shown in the drawing and its moveable contact r11is also closed at its right side. Thus, the relay R12 of the section(i-l) is disconnected from the ground and the contact r12 is switched tothe position (lower) as shown in the drawing, thereby the power supplyto the power supply line of the section (i-l) being cut off.

A capacitor 324 and a resistor 325 are connected to the relay R11 andthe energization thereof is delayed a period determined by the timeconstant of the capacitance and the resistance after the energization ofthe relay R10. This delay time may be adjusted by changing either thecapacitance of the capacitor 324 or the resistance of the resistor 325.However, the change of the resistance of the resistor 325 will result inthe change of the current flowing through the relay R11, thus thecapacitance of the capacitor 324 being preferably changed. By providinga delay between the energization of the relay R and that of the relay11, even if the moveable'contact r10-3 is closed at the side (upperside) opposite to that shown in FIG. 3A, the moveable contact r11 iskept to be closed at its left side as shown in FIG. 3A and a terminal321 of the section (1') is grounded, thus the current flowing throughthe lower side of the relay R11 of the section (il and its moveablecontact r11 being kept to be closed at its left side as shown in FIG.3A.

In FIG. 3B'are shown the timing relationship of the main waveforms inthe section control circuit. The waveform (1) represents a detectingtime of the detector 322, the waveform (2) represents a detected signalat the terminal 307, the waveform (3) represents that at the terminal309, the waveform (4) represents examples of the potential change at theterminal 320 (negative going) and the state of transition of themoveable contact rll (positive going) and the waveform (5) representsthat at the terminal 321.

When the electromotive carrying apparatus runs from the section (1')into the section (i+l the power to the supply line of the section (i) iscut off by virtue of the operation of the section control circuit of thesection (i+l a signal similar to the signal of the waveform (5) as shownin FIG. 3B, is sent to the terminal 308 of the section (i) from theterminal 321 of the section control circuit of the section (i+l thelower side of the relay R11 of the section (i) is grounded, its movablecontact rll is closed at its left side, the relay R12 is grounded fromthe terminal 320 through the terminal 306 of the section control circuitof the section (i-l) to allow the relay R12 to operate and the moveablecontact r12 of the section (i-l) to be switched to the upper sideposition, thereby feeding power to the supply line of the section.

While the carrying apparatus is running within the range detectable bythe detector 322 and the relay R10 of the section control circuit isenergized, a ground level signal appears at the terminal 309. Thisground signal may be used as a signal indicating that they carryingapparatus has entered into the section in question. Also, while themoveable contact r11 of the relay R11 is closed at its right side, aground level signal appears at the terminal 310. This ground signal maybe used as a signal indicating that they carrying apparatus is presentin the section.

When the period during which the detector 322 detects the carryingapparatus running at a high speed by energizing the relay R10 is shorterthan the delay time of the relay R11, it may happen that the power tothe power supply line in the immediately succeeding section will not becut off after the carrying apparatus has entered into the presentsection. In order to prevent this, a contact rl0-2 of the relay R10 anda diode 326 are provided so as to self-hold the relay R10. Moreparticularly, the diode 326 prevents the terminal 320 from beinggrounded by the moveable contact rl0-2 even after the moveable contactr11 has been switched to close at its right side in FIG. 3A

Further, the diode 326 cuts off the current flowing through the windingof the relay R10 so that it prevents its surge from affecting themoveable contact r11.

A D.C. power supply is provided including a power transformer 327,rectifying diodes 328 and 329, a resistor 330 and a smoothing capacitor331 so as to supply the power to energize each of relays for operation.A power supply for the relays R10 and R11 is composed of a capacitor 333having one end grounded and the other end connected to said D.C. powersupply through a diode 332. The capacitance of the capacitor 333 ispreferably selected so that the electric charge on it is sufficient toenergize the relays R10 and R11. Now, let us suppose that either theregulated power supply alone (at terminals 301 and 302) or both theregulated power supply and the main power supply (atterminals 303 and304) fail. It may happen that the carrying apparatus running in thesection (il) cannot stop simultaneously with the occurrence of thefailure, so that because of its running inertia it runs into the section(i), thereby causing the detector to be operated. In this case, theelectric charge of the capacitor 333 is not discharged through thewinding of the relay R12 due to the presence of the diode 332, eventhough the regulated power supply of the section control circuit of thesection (1') fails. Therefore, when the detector 322 is activated, theelectric charge of the capacitor 333 energizes the relays R10 and r11 sothat the terminal 320 of the section (1') is disconnected from theground.

Thus, since the moveable contact r12 of the section (i-l) is switched toits lower position and the power to the power supply line of thesucceeding section (i-l) is cut off, the relay R12 of the section (i-lis not energized unless the relay R1] of the section (1') is energized,even if the power is supplied again, and consequently the power is keptnot to be supplied to the power supply line. The capacitance of thecapacitor 333 is sufficient to energize the relays R and R11 at leastonce. Therefore, the power to the power supply line of the succeedingsection is assuredly cut off for at least one time of operation of thedetector even after the failure of the power supply.

When the power is not supplied to the power supply line in the sectioncontrol circuit of the section (i), the moveable contact r12 of therelay R12 is closed at its lower position so that the power is suppliedto terminals 316 and 317 of the section (i). Therefore, if a low speed.instruction device 323 for the carrying apparatus is provided at theentrance whereat it runs into the section (i--l'), and if suchinstruction device 323 is connected to the terminals 316 and 317, thelow speed instruction device 323 can be used to reduce the speed of thesucceeding electromotive carrying apparatus soon after it has enteredinto thesection (i-l) so that it may be stopped smoothly with less shockwhen it has entered into the section (1') in which the power to thepower supply line is interrupted.

In FIG. 3A, diodes 334, 335, 336 and 337 are used as surge absorbers.

Referring now to FIGS. 2A to 2G, a turnable directioning control circuitof the turnable directioning apparatus will be described.

Referring particularly to FIG. 2A, a block diagram of the turnabledirectioning control circuit is shown. Assume that there are eightdirections in which the electromotive carrying apparatus can enter intoand come out of the turnable directioning apparatus, then there will beeight section control circuits (as described previously referring toFIG. 2A) in total which must be controlled. Accordingly, the eightsection control circuits are connected to the turnable directioningcontrol circuit. Switches TS 13 through TS are used for switching theentrance and exit for the electromotive carrying apparatus in each railwith which each section is associated.

Gate circuits 511 allow the turnable directioning control circuit tosupply a signal to only the section control circuit of the rail of thesection with which the rail of the turnable directioning controlapparatus is engaged. This gate, circuit 511 may be a relay circuit forapplying a position signal produced from a position detector 517 todetect the position of the rail directed to turn as will be describedhereinafter, through a relay circuit 518 and a decoder 519 as will bedescribed hereinafter to the gate 511, thereby connecting only thesection control circuit of the rail of the section among the eight railsmentioned above, with which the rail of the turnable directioningapparatus is engaged to this turnable directioning control circuit.

Selector circuits 520 are used for selecting any one.

of the electromotive carrying apparatuses when they enter simultaneouslyinto the turnable directioning apparatus.

A rail positioner 512 is used for returning the rotary rail (the rail ofthe turnable directioning apparatus) to a predetermined position, whenthere is no electromotive carrying apparatus which is going to enterinto the rail of the turnable directioning apparatus.

A directioning instruction device 521 is used for instructing the railof the turnable directioning apparatus to be positioned as desiredthrough a push button, for example.

A relay circuit 518 is a relay to switch the rail of the turnabledirectioning apparatus to the side of the directioning instructiondevice by a turning instruction after the rail has been moved to anangular position in accordance with the approach of the electromotivecarrying apparatus or the setting thereof at a predetermined position.

An encoder 513 converts a signal indicating from which direction theelectromotive carrying apparatus is approaching the turnabledirectioning apparatus, or a directioning instruction signal into a codewhich will be described hereinafter.

'A position detector 517 detects the present position of the-rail in theturnable directioning apparatus to energize a corresponding relay of arelay circuit 518 disposed immediately in succession, and a decoder 519feeds the gate circuit 511 of the section control circuit of the rail ofthe section which is aligned with the rail of the turnable directioningapparatus with a signal indicating the present position, and also feedsit to a coincident circuit 514 as will be described hereinafter.

The coincident circuit 514 detects the difference between a signalindicating the direction from which the electromotive carrying apparatusis approaching, or a directioning instruction signal produced from theencoder mentioned above and a signal indicating the present position ofthe rail of the turnable directioning apparatus so that if there is adifference therebetween, it will energize a direction finder 515. Thedirection finder 515, when energized, finds the shortest course withinto turn the rail of the turnable directioning apparatus in a directionof the rail on which the electromotive carrying apparatus is coming orof that indicated by the directioning instruction. Thus, a motor M3 isactuated by the direction finder 515 through a reversible switch 516 fordriving the rail of the turnable directioning apparatus.

A stopper control circuit 522 controls the operation of the stoppers 523mounted at both ends of the rail so that when the. electromotivecarrying apparatus is on the rail of the turnable directioningapparatus, it is prevented from running out of the rail due to turningthereof.

A detector 526 detects that the electromotive carrying apparatus hasreached the center of the rail of the turnable directioning apparatusand cuts off'the power to the supply line 525 so that it may be stoppedwithin the rail.

A phase inverter 524 functionsto invert the phase of the power to thepower supply line of the rail of the turnable directioning apparatus,and in practice it is operated when the electromotive carrying apparatusis required to run outof the turnable directioning apparatus at theentrance at which the electromotive carrying apparatus has enteredthereinto.

Referring now to FIG. 28, a wiring diagram of the turnable directioningcontrol circuit is shown.

When the electromotive carrying apparatus approaches the turnabledirectioning apparatus, any of relays R31 through R38 of the selectorcircuit 520 corresponding to the section now carrying the electromotivecarrying apparatus is energized through a relay R48 to close theircorresponding moveable contacts r31 through r38 and r48, and thus thesucceeding electromotive carrying apparatus from any direction will waituntil the electromotive carrying apparatus completes its turningoperation. In order to turn the rail of the turnable directioningapparatus in a direction corresponding to the rail of the section thatthe electromotive carrying apparatus is approaching, any of the relaysR51 through R58 corresponding thereto is energized to close any of theirmoveable contacts r51 through r58, and then a code corresponding to thatrail (as will be described hereinafter) is produced by the encoder 513comprising relays R61 through R68, and thereafter it is sent to thecoincident circuit 514. On the other hand, a signal from the positiondetector 517 (comprising limit switches LS1 through LS3 which detectsthe present position of the rail of the turnable directioning apparatusenergizes through relays R81 through R83 by means of the circuit oftheir moveable contacts r81 through r83 any pair of relays R71 throughR78 corresponding to the present position of the rail and is applied tothe coincident circuit 514 so that the turnable directioning apparatusmay be turned in a direction with which the rail of the section that theelectromotive carrying apparatus is approaching ,is aligned as will bedescribed hereinafter.

When there is no electromotive carrying apparatus approaching from anydirection, the relays R51 through R58 corresponding to the directionwhich has been switched by the rail positioner 512 constituted by arotary switch RS1 are energized, and thereafter the rail of the turnabledirectioning apparatus is turned to its corresponding position in thesame manner as described previously in the case when the electromotivesupplying apparatus is approaching. When the electromotive carryingapparatus is approaching, the contact r48 in the selector 520 is in thecircuit of the rotary switch RS1, so that it cuts off the circuit,thereby being controlled by the selector 520 as was describedpreviously, In this case, it is necessary that a switch TS21 has beenswitched to receive a signal giving an instruction to the rotary rail.

The position signal indicative of the position of the rotary rail fromthe position detector 517 energizes through the relay circuit 518 thedecoder constituted by the relays R71 through R78 as describedpreviously, one pair of moveable contacts r71 through'r78correspondingthereto are provided in the gate circuit 51 1 so that onlywhen the rotary rail corresponds with the direction indicated by theposition signal, the signal from the corresponding section is applied,and when the rotary rail corresponds with the rail of the section thatthe electromotive carrying apparatus approaches, connection with thesection control circuits disposed immediately before and after thatsection are made, thus allowing delivery of the control signal.

When the rotary rail is turned to reach the rail of the section that theelectromotive carrying apparatus is approaching, the direction finder515 operates to find the shortest course to turn the rotary rail within180 as will be described hereinafter. When both rails are aligned witheach other, if there is no electromotive carrying apparatus in thepreceding section, the power is supplied to the power supply lines ofthe connecting fixed rail of the turnable directioning apparatus and therotary rail to cause the electromotive carrying apparatus to enter intothe rotary rail, and then the stopper control circuit 522 constituted bya relay R98 is energized to close its moveable contact r98 so thatsolenoids S1 and S2 may be operated to cause the stoppers to be p0-sitioned at both ends of the rotary rail in the same manner as in thecase of the section control circuit. The phase of the power to the powersupply line in the rotary rail must be inverted by the phase inverter524 constituted by relays R96 and R97 depending on the direction inwhich the electromotive carrying apparatus must be moved.

When the electromotive carrying apparatus reaches the center of therotary rail, the detector 526 detects it and cuts off the power to thesupply line in the rotary rail, thereby stopping it therewithin.

Then, a moveable contact r87 is switched to the side of the directioninginstruction device so that any of the relays R51 through R58 areenergized to close any of the moveable contacts r51 through 58, thus thecoincidence in the coincident circuit 514 being lost so that the rotaryrail may be turned in the same manner as in the case when theelectromotive carrying apparatus approach the turnable directioningapparatus.

When the rotary rail is aligned with the rail instructed to be directed,the power is supplied to the line in the rail of the turnabledirectioning apparatus, and the electromotive carrying apparatus isstarted to run out to the rail of a predetermined section. After theelectromotive carrying apparatus has run out, the turnable directioningapparatus returns to its original condition.

The directioning instruction device 521 may be a selector which will bedescribed hereinafter.

Referring now to FIGS. 2C through 2F data and schematic diagramsconcerning the direction finder are shown.

Referring particularly in FIG. 2C, the eight directions of the railexternally contacted with the turnable directioning apparatus may berepresented by eight 3-digit binary codes. Such codes being designated,in a clockwise order, 001, 010, 011, 100, 101,110 and Ill beginning with000. A clockwise turning of the rail of the turnable directioningapparatus will be termed forward turn," and a counterclockwise turningthereof will be termed reverse turn hereinafter. Further, the

. rail of the turnable directioning apparatus will be directional.

Referring to FIG. 2D, the table shows, that for each of all the possiblepositions of the rail of the turnable directioning apparatus, a binarycode representing the present position of the rail plus the complementof a binary code representing the position to which it is to be turned,represents that position, sign indicating that there is a carry made.The binary code 111 means that the present position of the rail isaligned with the position to which it is turned, so that turning is notnecessary. The hatched area means that a reverse turn is preferablyperformed and the other area means that a forward turn is so done, bothin order to take the shortest course to the position to be directed.From the table, it can be seen that the code having l as its mostsignificant digit signifies that a forward turn should be performed andthat having 0 as its most significant digit signifies that a reverseturn should be performed. Accordingly, a signal of forward turn orreverse turn can be determined by detecting whether the most significantdigit of the code is l or 0, such code being the code representing thepresent position of the rotary rail plus the complement of the coderepresenting the position to which the rail must be turned.

Referring to FIG. 2E, a block diagram of the logic circuit for thedetection described above is shown. When the relays R51 through R58 andR61 through R63 are used for converting a directioning instruction to abinary code by means of the encoder, the complement of the binary coderepresenting the position to which the rotary rail is to be turned isobtained (the relays R61 through R63 are constituted by relays which areclosed in a normal condition). The binary code representing the presentposition of the rail may be obtained from the position detectorconstituted by the limit switches LS1 through LS3. An addition of thesecodes can be performed for the intended purpose. In executing suchaddition, the most significant digit is only necessary, and the leastsignificant digit and the second significant digit are not necessaryexcept when a carry to the most significant digit is produced, thussince the operation on the least significant digits may have asignificance only in the case when a carry is produced, a half circuitof a half adder, PIA/2, that is, an AND circuit constituted by the R61and R81 is sufficient. Similarly, with respect to the second digit,since it may have a significance only when there may be a carry from theleast significant digit, a half circuit of a full adder, FA/Z issufficient. With respect to the most significant digit, since both thesum and the carry from the second digit are of significance, a fulladder, FA is required, but in this case the carry produced by the mostsignificant digits is unnecessary.

Referring to FIG. 2F, a logic circuit and its operation are illustrated.This operation may be done by an arithmetic circuit shown in FIG. 26,which comprises the relays R64 and R65. More particularly, this circuitcan be connected to the motor M3 in such a manner that when the relayR65 is energized the rotary rail is turned forwardly, and when the relayR65 is deenergized the rotary rail is turned reversely.

The use of only one set of such turnable directioning apparatus mayallow a branching operation in multiple directions, even when as many assix sets of twodirection branching apparatuses are required for the sameoperation.

What is claimed is:

' 1. A turnable directioning apparatus for use in an automatic carryingsystem in which eight fixed rails each provided with a power supply linetherealong to run an electromotive carrying apparatus on the rail arearranged so that their ends converge at a common location, such locatingbeing provided with a turnable member on which one section of a railhaving a power supply line therealong is mounted, the consecutiveangular positions of said eight fixed rails being represented bycorresponding binary codes from 000 to l l l respectively, said turnablemember being connected with a turning device for turning the same andwith a present position indicating means for generating a signalrepresenting the present angular position of its rail, said turnabledirectioning apparatus comprising:

means associated with said eight fixed rails and adapted to be actuated,when the electromotive carrying apparatus is running on one of saidfixed rails, to generate a signal indicating on which rail theelectromotive carrying apparatus is running;

a direction finder connected between said present position indicatingmeans and said means for generating a signal indicating on which railthe electromotive carrying apparatus is running, said direction finderbeing adapted to determine whether the most significant digit of a sumobtained by adding a binary code representing the present angularposition of the rail of said turnable member to the complement of abinary code representing the angular position to which said rail is tobe turned is l or 0, said direction finder being also adapted to causesaid turning device to turn said turnable member in a forward or reversedirection, depending on whether the most significant digit of said sumis l or 0, respectively, until the rail of said turnable member isaligned with the fixed rail along which the electromotive carryingapparatus is approaching said turnable member; and

a directioning instruction device for instructing an angular position towhich the rail of said turnable member is to be directed, saiddirectioning instruction device being adapted to be connected to saidturning device after the electromotive carrying apparatus has enteredinto the rail of said turnable member for causing saidturning device toturn the same'to the direction so instructed.'

1. A turnable directioning apparatus For use in an automatic carryingsystem in which eight fixed rails each provided with a power supply linetherealong to run an electromotive carrying apparatus on the rail arearranged so that their ends converge at a common location, such locatingbeing provided with a turnable member on which one section of a railhaving a power supply line therealong is mounted, the consecutiveangular positions of said eight fixed rails being represented bycorresponding binary codes from 000 to 111, respectively, said turnablemember being connected with a turning device for turning the same andwith a present position indicating means for generating a signalrepresenting the present angular position of its rail, said turnabledirectioning apparatus comprising: means associated with said eightfixed rails and adapted to be actuated, when the electromotive carryingapparatus is running on one of said fixed rails, to generate a signalindicating on which rail the electromotive carrying apparatus isrunning; a direction finder connected between said present positionindicating means and said means for generating a signal indicating onwhich rail the electromotive carrying apparatus is running, saiddirection finder being adapted to determine whether the most significantdigit of a sum obtained by adding a binary code representing the presentangular position of the rail of said turnable member to the complementof a binary code representing the angular position to which said rail isto be turned is 1 or 0, said direction finder being also adapted tocause said turning device to turn said turnable member in a forward orreverse direction, depending on whether the most significant digit ofsaid sum is 1 or 0, respectively, until the rail of said turnable memberis aligned with the fixed rail along which the electromotive carryingapparatus is approaching said turnable member; and a directioninginstruction device for instructing an angular position to which the railof said turnable member is to be directed, said directioning instructiondevice being adapted to be connected to said turning device after theelectromotive carrying apparatus has entered into the rail of saidturnable member for causing said turning device to turn the same to thedirection so instructed.